Laundry-counting device



Feb. 16 19269 1,573,162

A. F. HANNEY LAUNDRY COUNTING DEVICE Filed May 5, 1924 '4 Sheets-Sheet l pill! ye /I a my.

A. F. HANNEY LAUNDRY COUNTING DEVICE Feb. 16 1926.

4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 5, 1924 [warn/arr 17%? fry;

m a Q,

Feb. 16 1926. 1,573,162

A. F. HANNEY LAUNDRY COUNTING DEVICE 3. QQJW Feb. 16,1926. 1,573,162

. :A. F. HANNEY LAUNDRY COUNTING DEVICE Filed May 5, 19224 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 @QQJLW Patented Feb. 16, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANGUS F. HANNEY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR 'IO GAMMELL-HANNEY MANU- FACTURING 00., OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

LAUNDRY-COUNTING DEVICE.

Application filed May 5,

To all whom may concern:

Be it known that I, ANGUS F. HANNEY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident the city of Chicago, county of Cook, and State'of Illinois, have invented certain new and 'useful Improvements in Laundry- Counting Devices, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in laundry counting devices, and has for its object the provision of an improved con struction of this character whichis of simple construction and highly eflicient in use. d

Other objects will appear hereinafter.

The invention consists in the combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

The invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, and in which,

1 is a side view of a device embodying the invention,

Fig.2 is a front view of the same,

Fig. 3 isa section taken on line 33 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 4 is a section taken on line 4r :i: of ig. 3,

Fig. 5 is a section taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 6,

Fig. 6 is a section taken on line 66 of Fig. 3,

Fig. 7 is a view'similar to Fig. 3 but showing the parts inposition for resetting of the'register,

8 1s a section taken on line 8-8 of Ba Fig. 9 1s a section taken on line 9-9 of Fig. 5, and

Fig. 10'is a view similar to Fig. 1 but showing a modified form of construction.

The form of construction illustrated in Figs. 1 to 9 of the drawings comprises a supporting bracket 11 arranged to be secured as indicatedon a supporting rail 12. A guide bar '13 is"reinovably'attaclred'to the bracket 11and' a"'swinging support l t is arranged in. conjunction vi'with said guide bar, mentoring lG'YQ IJl bein arranged to 1924. Serial No. 711,056.

release the bar 13 and the support 14 to permit removal of the bar 13 and downward swinging 0f the support 1%. The outer end of the bar 13 is provided with a cam surface '16 arranged to co-operate with marl;- ing members ortags 17 detachably secured to laundry articles and released therefrom by the action of the cam surface 16. The portion of the mechanism already described is a well known arrangement for the purpose invented by myself and forms no part of the present invention except in so far as the guide bar 13 thereofco-operates with the mechanism and parts to be presently de scribed.

' Mounted on top of the supporting rail 12 is a supporting housing 18 having asupporting rod 19 extending outwardly therefrom adjacent and parallel to the bar 13. A swinging finger 20 carried by the rocker 21 is mounted to swing freely on a transverse stud shaft 22 secured to the end of the rod 19 and projecting over the bar 13 as shown, the lower end of the finger 20 being bifurcated to straddle the bar 13 and thus be swung when the laundry markers 17' are placed on or removed from the guide bar 13. The rocker 21 carries a rockerarn'i 23 connected by a link 24: with an arm25 on a sleeve 26 freely slidable on a spring held plunger 27 mounted in the housing 18. A stop collar 28 is arranged to limit the movement of the sleeve 26 on said plunger in one direction and a stop collar 29 limits the movement of the plunger itself in the opposite direction, the sleeve 26 being free however to move idly on plunger 27. The plunger 27 is mounted in a guide bearing 30 on the housing 18 and carries a laterally extending arm 31 rigidly secured thereto within the housing 18. A compression spring 32 is imprisoned on the plunger 27 by the arm 31, said spring serving to hold the plunger no'rmally'with v the collar" 29 resting against the bearing 30 as best shown inFig. 4.- The arm 31 has a forked end 3l"'engaging an annular recess 32 in the flange 33 of a sleeve 34; whichis loosely mounted on a pivot stud 35secured inthe' casing'18 in parallel rela' tion to the plunger 27. A dog 33 is pivot-- ally n'iounted to swing freely on the sleeve 34:, being operatively held thereon by the flange and a stop collar 36. The dog 33 is provided with atooth 34 arranged and adapted to engage the teeth 35 on the periphery 01. a toothed wheel 36 mounted on a dial shaft 37 carrying a numbered dial 38 co-operating with an indicator linger 39 on the front of housing 18. The dog 33 is provided with a laterally extending weight-- ed arm 40 resting on a cam member '41 in housing 18, said cani n'iember being arranged and shaped to permit the tooth 3a to engage between two of the teeth and then rock the dog 33 laterally upon longitudinal movement of the plunger 27, the weighted arm 40 norn'ially holding the dog in operative contact with the cam 11. By this arrangement upon each outward movement of the plunger 27 the dog tooth A will be drawn into engagement with the teeth ot the wheel and said wheel caused to rotate the angular space of one of the numbers on the dial 38, of course carrying the dial with it. In this way as each of the markers 17 is forced onto the guide bar 13 the linger E20 will be swung to operate the dog 33 to step the dial 38 the angular space of one ot the numbers on the face thereot, whereby the nun'ilicr of markers inserted on the bar 13 will be accurately counted and will appear on the dial 38. Each marker carries a laundry article so that the dial 88 will thus accurately show the number of laundry articles on the bar 13.

A. spiral watch spring is secured to the shatt and to the housing 18 and is arranged to hold a stop pin 43 on the hub of wheel 36 against a stop pin all on a washer l4 loose on shaft 3? and having a slot and pin connection ell-3 with the housing 18. hen the washer ts is in the position indicated in Fig. 9 the dial S8 at the Zero. point indicated in Fig. 2, and this is the normal starting position, the spring yieldingly holding the dial in this position and auton'iatically returning the dial to this position when released. It will be observed that the numbers on the dial 38 extend compltllilf, around the same and the lost motion permitted by the slot and pin connecion l3 compensates for the thicknesses of the pins l3 and 41:4 and permits a complete rotation of the dial before the dial is again stopped by the contact of the pins 43 and ll on their other sides. By this arrangement there is a constant tendency of the dial 38 to return to its Zero point. A spring held pawl is mounted on the'housing 18 to en gage the teeth 35 of the wheel 36 and nor mally prevent the return of the dial to zero position, said pawl however automatifally yielding to permit advance movement of sa d di nd r h p ration of. he d g 3%? and the cam '1. A link vi-6 is pivotally connected at one end with the pawl -15 and extends diametricallv across wheel 36 and is given a slot and pin connection 47 with a pawl 18 pivoted at 49 on the housing 18, said pawl 48 being thus held out 01' engagement with the teeth 35 when the pawl is in engagement with teeth 35. A conical cam head is secured to the end of a spring held plunge 51. slidably mounted in a bearing sleeve 52 on the housing 18 to recipro cate parallel to the plunger 27 and the axis of wheel 86. it con'mression spring 523 is imprisoned in the sleeve 52 and a stop collar or head 5% is secured to the plunger 51. to rest against the spring An arm 55 is provided on the sleeve 26 and projects upwardly therefrom to engage the collar 54. during the idle movement of the sleeve if; on plunger 27 explained above. By this arrangement when the linger 20 is swung outwardly or to the left in the position illustrated in Fig. 1 as will be caused by the removal of one oil the markers 17 from the bar 13, the sleeve 26 will be operated to force arm 55 into contact with collar 54 and thus operate the plunger 51. This causes the cam head 50 to operate pawl 48 throwing the same into engagement with the teeth 35 and throwing the pawl -15 out oi engagement with said teeth. The pawls 4:5 and 18 are so mounted and positioned relatively to each other that as the pawl is thrown out of engagement the pawl 4.8 passes into a space between two of the teeth 35 which pern'iits of the reverse movement of the wheel 36 the suace ot one tooth under the in fluence of spring 4-2. or, in other words, the mechanism constitutes an escapemeut mechanism pern'iitting of step by step reverse movement ol the wheel 36 and the dial 38 upon each operation of the plunger 4 1. Thus it' the operator n'iakos a mistake, whi h frequently happens in counting laundry work and a wrong marker 17 is placed upon the bar 13, the mistake can be corrected by simply removing said marker from the bar and the apparatus automatically subtracts or eliminates the previous registration thcreo't by the dial 88. Should the erroneously placed inarlzer not be discovered until a number of proper markers have been also placed over it on the bar 13, nevertheless all of the markers may be removed singly from the bar 13 until. the incorrect marker is thus removed, the apparatus autoi'uatically eliininating the corresponding registrations from the dial as explained above and as each marker is removed. Then when the erro' neous marker is laid aside and the proper markers again placed on the supporting bar 13 proper registration will again talie placir. A rocker arm 56 is rigidlv secured, to a *oclzer shaft- 57 normally held in the posi ineicated in Fig. 3 by a spring 58 and Hit) an operating handle 59 is provided on said shaft. in t the front of housing 18 as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2. The free end oi rocker arm 56 carries a pin 60 engaging: a slot 61 in the link 46 and whereby a limited amount of lost motion is permitted between the link d6 and the pin 60, said lost motion permitting: of the normal operation of the pawls 15 and 48 without inertercnce from the pin 60. However when the rocker arm 56 is rocked into the position shown in Fig. '3' both pawls 15 and 48 will be held from engagement with the teeth 35 and permit. automatic return and resetting; of the dial 238 under the influence of the spring 42. The si t 47 also permits of sutlicient lost motion between link 46 and pawl 48 to pre vent the pawl 48 from being thrown into engagement with the teeth 35 when the pawl :53 is thus raised from engagement with teeth 35. This provides a simple and COB. venient means for resetting the dial at the end of each counting operation. By this arrangement it will be observed that laundry articles bearing; the markers 1'? may be readily assembled upon the bar 13 and accurately counted, the number being indicated by the dial 38, inevitable errors in counting being read ly corrected when necessary.

lVhen the articles are thus assembled the latch lever 15 is operated to release bar 12- and the support 14; whereupon the counted laundry articles are dropped into a suitable receptacle and the bar 13 and counters 17 readily removed as desired.

In the modified form of construction illustrated in Fig. 10 a rocking lever 62 is pivoted to the rod 19 and connected by a link (3? with the arm and by a link (at with the arm This arrangement reverses the operation of the dial as explained above. the dial operating to count the markers removed from the bar 13 instead of those being placed thereon. In some instances and under some circumstances such a counting arrangement will be founc. advantageous. Otherwise the construction and mechanism is 'dcntical with that already described.

Y hile I have illustrated and described the preferred forms of construction for carrying my invention into effect, these are capabio of variation and modification without departin from the spirit o1 the invention. l, therctore, do not wish to be limited to the precise details of construction set .t'orth. but desire to avail myseli of such variations and modifications as come within the scope of the appended claims.

Having described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In combination with a wheel and a register controlled thereby, of a plunger and means adapted to actuate said wheel in one direction; a second plunger and means adapted to cause the operation of said wheel reversely; a guide: means operative by articles moving on said guide for actuating the first plunger: and means operative by articles moving: reverscly on said guide for acing said second plunger, substantially as i." JQtl. In combination with a wheel and a regcontrollcd thereby of a pair of plungors; means controlled by one plunger for moving); said wheel in one direction; means controlled by the otherot the plungers for causing the reverse movement or said wheel: and means movable upon said first named plunger i'or actuating the second named plunger when said wheel is to be moved rcversely, substantially as described.

3. In combination with a spring posied wheel and a register controlled thereby. of two plungers; a dog under the control oi one plunger and arranged to step said wheel against the action of its spring; a pair pivoted, link-connected pawls under the control of the other :nlow reverse sepping of said wheel; a Ilc; and means operable by movement of moles along" said guide in one direction for rating as plunger, and by movement of tltlCl-OS along said guide in the opposite di otion for operating the other of said olung'ers, substantially as described.

4-. In combination with a wheel and a register controlled thereby. ot' a pair of plungmeans controlled by one plunger for moving said wheel in one direction; moans controlled by the other or the planners for causing reverse movement of said wheel; a guide: a rocker whose rocking movements are ell ected by the moving of articles to and fro upon said guide; a sleeve arranged on the first named plunger for actuating; the same; an operative connection between said rocker and the sleeve; and means adapted to establish an operative connection between said sleeve and the second named plunger, substantially as described.

5. .ln combination with a wheel and a regisccr controlled thereby, of two plungers; a sleeve arranged on the first plunger whereby to a *tuate both of he plnngers; a dog and means adapted to step said wheel controlled by the first plunger, a pair of pivoted, linkconnec-ted pawls to allow reverse stepping oi the wheel controlled by the second of the plunger-s; a guide; means operable by movement of articles along said guide for operating; said sleeve; and an arm on said sleeve for actuating the second plunger in one di rection, substantially described.

7. A device of me class described comprising a guide; a register associated therewith; a spring-urged wheel connected to control the operation of said register; a pair of pivoted. link-connected pawls for controlling said spring-urged wheel; a swinging finger plunger and adapted to associated With said guide to he moved by articles moved'along the guide; a plunger member connected to be reciprocated by the movement of the finger in one direction;

5 a second plunger member connected to be reciprocated by the movement of the finger in the opposite direction; means operable by the reciprocation of the first plunger for acmating said Wheel; and means operated by the reciprocation or" the second plunger for operating said link-connected pawls, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

ANGUS F. HANNEY. 

